Chapter 50 - Deception

Author's Note: I'm sincerely sorry in advance, but that had to happen for the plot. :'(

~ Tirana Sorki

Ahsoka had a... funny feeling about this from the start, though she couldn't say why. She didn't, until whoever it is shooting at them, right on the streets of Coruscant, actually hits Obi-Wan.

"Master!" Anakin cries, sprinting to the edge of the building he's on.

"I got him," Ahsoka calls back, already moving towards Obi-Wan's fallen form. He'd fallen onto a pile of crates, and it certainly doesn't look like a pleasant landing, not to mention however badly it was that he was injured. Frankly, under any other circumstances, she could almost outright roll her eyes at him, because seriously, of course, he gets hurt by something absolutely ridiculous. "Go!"

Anakin takes off, and Ahsoka digs Obi-Wan out of the mess of crates he landed in, mild exasperation bleeding into a small amount of worry. He's unconscious, which isn't surprising, but the injury... it looks bad. She can feel a pulse, but it's weak, and they have to get him to the medbay.

She hasn't seen Obi-Wan injured in... well, it's been a long while. He was injured on Geonosis when they fought Dooku, but really, it hasn't been since she was a padawan. She hasn't had to worry about him, hasn't even if she maybe should've. Mostly, he felt... more like a burden than anything else, one that she could never make go away or shake off.

But that doesn't mean she wanted to see him hurt.

So much has already happened, both to the Order and the galaxy, and she doesn't think the Council or Order could well deal with losing yet another member, especially one as high up as Obi-Wan.

"How is he?" Anakin asks, jumping from the building a few moments later.

His pulse feels steadily weaker under her hand. "It's... not good," Ahsoka replies, standing. "We have to hurry." So, why – why does she have the feeling that hurrying won't change what she knows deep inside herself is about to happen?

And even so, it still feels too unreal for her to actually... feel anything at the thought of it happening for real.

**w**

They – they said Obi-Wan was dead. That he's gone. That they didn't get him to the medbay fast enough. That... there was nothing they could do.

It shouldn't be possible. It should never have happened, but it did, and all Anakin did was stand by and watch.

This was his master, the person who raised him that has done so much for him and given him so much, but he's... gone.

Anakin is standing next to Ahsoka at the funeral, but it doesn't feel like it. It doesn't feel like he's here at all. He feels... elsewhere, completely numb and empty. Like he's floating, watching everything around him slowly play out as if having no connection to it whatsoever.

Instead, he just stands there and watches numbly as his master's body is lowered from sight and as the beam of lights shoots upwards to the ceiling. He's – he's gone now. He's not coming back. His master is dead, and nothing can change that.

His master is dead, and Anakin has no idea how that's possible, how he could've failed him so much, or what it'll mean for his own future. If his master is gone, then...

Master Plo pulls Anakin and Ahsoka aside to speak to them. He almost didn't notice, except he has nowhere else to be. He's not going back to the apartment that he used to share with his master.

"What?" Ahsoka asks. She sounds more numb than anything else. He can't even read her closed-off expression – doesn't have the energy to try anyway.

"I know this is soon, but given the unexpected circumstances, the Council believes Anakin should become your padawan," Plo replies, an obvious note of sympathy in his voice.

For a moment, all Anakin can do is blink at him, because... what?

Of course, he'd have to get a new master, and it takes him a ridiculously long time to process that. Because Obi-Wan isn't coming back. He's gone, and everything they shared is in the past, and that can't even be possible, but apparently it is, and –

And Ahsoka's going to be his new master. Assuming she even wants him when she rejected him from the start. It's strange to think he almost became padawan once before.

He's not sure what to think about this. He was never close with Ahsoka. Never trusted her, not like he did Obi-Wan. At least not after Mortis. Not after he saw what she did, and he hasn't been able to tell anyone, but... but this isn't his choice.

He doesn't want another master. He just wants Obi-Wan back.

"What if we don't... accept this arrangement?" Ahsoka inquires. "Will that matter?"

"It is your choice," Plo assures, "But given you two already work closely together, the Council assumed it would be the smoothest transition for both of you."

Anakin glances to the Togruta, numbly. That's... probably true. Maybe.

He can't imagine becoming anyone else's padawan. No one else would be like Obi-Wan. Not that Ahsoka will be either, but at least he knows her. That doesn't mean he wants her as a master. He just – He wants to wake up and find that everything is fine. But that's not really his choice, is it?

"Very well," Ahsoka concedes at length, "I will take Anakin as my padawan, if he accepts."

And now both her and Plo are looking at him, expecting an answer, and he has no idea what to say. He wants to refuse, to say that he doesn't want another master, but he can't do that. It's not what his duty as a Jedi demands of him, and maybe it's only remembering that, that he's able to get out a strangled, "I do."

"I understand this is not... easy, for either of you," he says, an obvious note of understanding there, "The Council hopes this will help you both in adjusting to this."

He's not sure if Plo says more, or if Ahsoka does, but somehow, he finds himself following her to her apartment. He's been there before, but now he's here to say.

At least he has somewhere to go other than Obi-Wan's apartment, because he can't go back there. (He can feel the peaceful rain of his master's presence, knowing he'll never sense it again. Knowing that that apartment will be given to someone else, and he'll – he doesn't want to think about anything at all right now.)

"Do you want to... get your things?" Ahsoka asks finally, first to break the silence.

Anakin shakes his head. Not now. Not for – hopefully a long time. He doesn't want this to start feeling more real. He doesn't say anything, because he doesn't think he can. Doesn't know what he has to say even if he could.

**w**

Ahsoka still feels numb at everything that happened. She can't believe Obi-Wan is dead. They were right there. They should've been able to stop it, and she's not sure how they couldn't have. True, Ahsoka was never close with Obi-Wan, not even when she was younger, though things did seem a little better back then, but that doesn't mean she wanted him dead. Away, yes, but not... this isn't what she wanted.

She also can't believe Anakin is now her padawan. She's not ready for one, and doesn't know that she even wants to have one, but she couldn't really turn him down again, could she? She doesn't want him to be sent off to some other master, never knowing when she'll see him again.

Now that they know each other better, she knows they understand each other in a way no else could ever understand her, aside from Kitster. Having him constantly at her side wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing, but... she's not ready to train him.

Ahsoka never wanted to have a padawan. She can't imagine what it would be like to be responsible for a child. Jedi aren't... trained in that, really, and Ahsoka has never been very good at interpersonal interactions of any kind, hence why she never had friends at the Temple, or really anywhere.

She doesn't know what to think about Obi-Wan not constantly being there, about not having to... worry about him. It leaves her feeling emptier than she thought it would, so instead, Ahsoka opts to avoid thinking about it altogether. It's not as if she doesn't have plenty of other things to worry about – namely, trying to help Anakin get settled into this life.

Ahsoka has no idea how the Council could have found the killer so fast, but she doesn't question it. She doesn't have a reason to. Of course, they're going to make fast work of this case. Obi-Wan was a Council member.

Was.

It's strange to think of him in past tense.

"How are you taking it?" Anakin asks finally, the first conversation he's actually started since it happened. She's mildly surprised he's talking, though she can see a small amount of worry in his eyes, though he looks mostly... dead.

"I... don't know," she answers, bluntly, because really, she has no idea. It feels so... unreal. "I don't see how we couldn't've stopped it." She can't imagine not having Obi-Wan hovering near her and just being annoying and – the distance growing between them was relieving in some ways, but she never wanted it to be like this, permanent. He's... gone, and there's no way back.

Anakin's expression twists and he looks away. "I don't either."

She's not sure how to feel about this, so it's easiest to focus on the mission at hand. After the Festival of Light is over, she can maybe take time to think it through. That doesn't mean it's going to be as easy for Anakin to accept. He... was very close with their master. (Ahsoka still loathes how it feels like Anakin has everything that she lost. She lost her mother. She lost... Obi-Wan, and Anakin got him. Okay, she never really had Obi-Wan in the first place to lose, but it... still feels like it sometimes.)

They reach the bar in the Underworld – Ahsoka's not even surprised that's where Hardeen is hanging out – heading to the back in search of him.

Ahsoka didn't feel angry, exactly – not until they run right into the killer himself. Why the Council chose them to be sent after him, she doesn't know, but Anakin's emotions are swirling around his Force presence with the same turmoil that it has been since it happened, though it's stronger. He's angry. Furious, actually, with the same anger that she had acted on when she massacurred the camp of Tusken Raiders.

Hardeen doesn't even respond when they stride into where he is. She can smell the alcohol in the air – he's obviously drunk, and somehow, that makes her slowly rising anger flare – that he'd do something like that, and then go get drunk on Coruscant without a care in the world.

"Jedi?" Hardeen mutters when they enter, "I already killed a Jedi today. Let me sleep."

Anakin's pain flares, coupled with Ahsoka's rage. She jerks him up, slamming him against the wall with a touch of the Force – she's not that strong physically. "And you're lucky the Jedi you killed would rather you rot in jail than die," she snarls. "That's probably more fitting anyway." Even if she would very much like to run him through with her lightsaber or just break his neck with her bare hands, and that she's willing to so outright think like that... it worries her, but he killed Obi-Wan. He hurt Anakin. She has a right to be angry at him.

"Let's get him out of here before you change your mind," Anakin advises, spinning around and stalking out the door.

Ahsoka follows, shoving Hardeen behind.

They drop him at the prison, and Ahsoka can't resist telling the guards to call her if he starts being trouble. Twenty-two or no, she still would have no problem beating someone up if they're being... well, problematic. Some things never change. The Jedi can say to her what they may, but she didn't survive on Tatooine by being soft. No one can, and those lessons are burned forever into her mind and soul. Ahsoka would never give them up, even if she could.

**w**

Everything feels... purposeless. Empty. Anakin is only half certain what's real and what's not most of the time, but he finds himself spending most of the time following Ahsoka in a haze. It's only been a few days, and after when he had to be up and moving, he's been in his new room at Ahsoka's apartment.

They need to be preparing for the Festival of Light and the dangers there, but Anakin has hardly even had the energy to do that. Still, he and Ahsoka have gone over defenses and looked for potential weak points a few times.

That's not why they're over at Palpatine's office now, though.

They came here, because last night, Hardeen escaped prison. They should have known that would happen, that he was a part of something more. For all they know, Hardeen just as well could have been sent on that mission by the Separatists for the sole purpose of endangering the Chancellor more, but – but Anakin doesn't want to think about that.

Obi-Wan is gone. Nothing he does will bring his master back.

But. They're here in the Chancellor's office, and he needs to focus, even if he feels like he's floating a good thousand klicks away. Which he is – just in the past. Because Obi-Wan being gone will mean that Anakin will never see or hear him again, will never have the gentleness that his master always showed him or –

Or even to hear him grumbling about... about literally anything, because for as much as it could be exhausting, it was still a part of his master.

Anakin is only here because Ahsoka is. Else, he wouldn't have come. He has always been grateful to the Chancellor for trying to help him, but he doesn't know what to think of it, especially after Zygerria. Going back there was a direct callback and reminder of everything when he was young, and he... he doesn't have a reason to believe that the Chancellor is truly only trying to help him from the goodness of his heart.

There are endless others Palpatine could take the time to help – other ways he could force the war to a faster end and help the galaxy – but he's not. No, he wants Anakin, and for all that he's grateful to be wanted, he's not sure what it means, or that it's not about... something sinister.

Wealthy people don't – at least rarely – care for those below them. Not in where he's from, and the whole galaxy may not be like Zygerria much at all, but he can't help being cautious. He almost wants to find a way to stay away so he doesn't have to worry about it.

"Why are you removing the bounty on these three fugitives?" Palpatine asks a hologram of Mundi, snapping Anakin's attention back to present. Wait, they – what?

"They might lead us back to Eval's operation if they're free to move," Mundi replies.

"Might?" Ahsoka bursts out.

"Very well," Palpatine replies anyway, "Keep me appraised." The hologram flickers out.

"This is insane," Ahsoka declares flatly, "Sometimes, I think the Jedi do need to be relieved of military duty, or – how can they do this? They can't use you as a bait!"

"I am confident the only security I need is the two of you," Palpatine assures.

Before, Anakin might've been touched. But now? We were together, he wants to say, when it happened. When we lost Obi-Wan. And if we couldn't protect one of the greatest Jedi, how could we protect anyone? He thinks the Chancellor is looking at him, as if he expects him to say something. Anakin doesn't have anything to say to him. Doesn't have anything to say to anyone.

"I don't know how they can expect us to do nothing when Obi-Wan's killer is in the loose," Ahsoka continues. How can she be so close with Palpatine? Anakin can't understand that. How can she trust him? He would've thought her, even more than him, would be wary.

But instead, it's like Palpatine is the only... friend she has, if he can be called that.

"It is possible they don't trust you to control your feelings," he replies sympathetically.

"The bounty hunters need to be stopped," Anakin says finally, speaking up for the first time, "We have to –" What's he doing, anyway? He can't demand the Council redact their decision. He can't... anything. He definitely shouldn't be trying to ask the Chancellor to go around them. The Council knows what they're doing, or at least he can hope they do. He's no longer so sure. After he met Kalifa and O'mer and Jinx, Anakin started questioning everything he thought he knew about the Order, if they were so willing to leave all of them behind.

"I have it from a reliable source that the fugitives were last headed towards Nal Hutta. If you believe you can stop this plot against me, I trust you," Palpatine replies.

Something sharp and heavy twists inside Anakin. He – he wants to. He's angry and hurt. He wants to – to claim vengeance. He wants to hurt the person who took Obi-Wan from him. Strategically, they need to stop them, but Anakin wants to do this because he... wants to. It's not about duty, or strategy. It's about the twisting, gnawing emptiness inside him that's tearing him apart, aching to destroy another the same way he was. It's of the Dark Side, everything Obi-Wan taught him against.

But then, Obi-Wan was always disappointed with him, anyway.

"Thank you, Chancellor," Ahsoka nods, standing, "You won't regret this."

But somewhere deep inside, Anakin thinks they all might regret this.

**w**

The odd numbness gripping Ahsoka hasn't risen at all when they go to Nal Hutta or track down the bounty hunters together to Orondia. Anakin is flying, of course, and Ahsoka keeps her eyes out the viewports, scanning the nearby ships.

And that's when she sees a very familiar figure. "Look," she calls to Anakin, "That's Cad Bane. Let's go."

The ship takes off the moment they presumably realize they're being pursued, and Anakin instantly gives chase. They nearly collide as they fly in low to give chase, but Ahsoka knows Anakin's perfectly capable of handling the flying. She's itching to get out there.

"I'll bring them down," Ahsoka decides finally, sprinting for the exit.

The rush of air hits her hard when she opens the ramp, but she steadies herself with the Force the same way she has a thousand times, the same way Obi-Wan once taught her, and jumps down onto the ship below. This will be a hard fight, but Ahsoka is ready. She stabs one of her lightsabers into the ship, burning a hole inside through the wiring. The ship shudders, thrown off-course. And not a moment too soon, because that's the same time Cad Bane flies in with his jet-boots.

He flies past, shooting, and Ahsoka draws her second lightsaber, easily keeping up with the shots. She deflects one into one of his boots, and he crashes onto the front of the ship. Ahsoka jumps after, undeterred, pressing forwards.

Anakin slams the ship he's flying into the bounty hunter's again, jerking it sharply. It's annoying, but most of all, it's doing a good job at forcing them down.

The way the ship keeps titling is making it hard to keep her balance and fight Bane at the same time, though. Especially when the ship is jerking so much.

She isn't paying attention enough to notice whose fault it is when Anakin's ship slams into the bounty hunter's one, and they go spiraling out of control. The force of it throws her from the ship, and she lands on the ground, hastily scrambling to her feet.

A blaster shot nearly takes her head off, and she instantly whips out her lightsabers again, charging Bane through the fog. It's hard to see much, but she has the Force and that's enough. These people have to be stopped at any cost, and nothing will stop her.

And then she spots Hardeen moving only right up ahead. Something in her snaps, and she lunges for him, anger burning. He will not escape what he's done. She tackles him to the ground, but he throws her off with surprising ease. She throws him back with the Force, right as Bane starts shooting at her again.

Through the fog, she sees Anakin's lightsabers ignite – he's finally here.

Fine.

She'll deal with Bane first, then the others. She charges him, even as he blasts into the air with his jet boots. Twisting her blade at just the right angle, she sends one of the deflected blaster shots back at his shoe. It hits its mark, and he falls to the ground, the mechanism sparking.

He backs away from her, shooting with both hands.

Ahsoka doesn't let that stop her. She jumps at him, blades slashing through the air.

Bane's motionless body falls to the ground. Ahsoka turns away to where Moralo Eval is, except now that the ship crashed, Ahsoka can feel the way his presence is fading. It seems like Anakin must've killed him in the crash, and she's just fine with that.

That just leaves Hardeen himself.

Through the darkness of night and smoke filling the air, it's hard to see anything, but she can see enough.

Ahsoka is almost entirely certain they're only moments from winning when a sudden Force-shove throws both her and Anakin back. It was so unexpected she didn't even see it coming, and what startles her most is how she suddenly feels that – that presence they said was gone.

Anakin stands shakily, quietly murmuring his master's name.

"You shouldn't have come after me."

"Of course, we came after you. You're a criminal," Ahsoka snaps.

"Ahsoka," he says, and the annoyance is so, so familiar even if his voice is not. "The Jedi Council sent me on a mission, one that you just blew."

Ahsoka's jaw drops. "That's impossible. You're lying. You're –" But she can feel it now in the Force. It's – it's Obi-Wan. Which means he never died at all, and that...

What?

Anakin inhales sharply, taking a few steps back. "You're lying. Don't give us false hope."

"Anakin –" he starts, stepping forwards, and Ahsoka just... snaps.

Because if this – if this happened, if it's real, and the Council really did this, which they did – she can feel it so clearly – then everything they've gone through was for nothing. "Don't you dare," she snarls furiously, stepping forwards, "Don't get near him. You've hurt him enough already. Are you heartless? Are you insane? How was this supposed to help anything?"

"I knew that if you believed it, Komari would be convinced as well," he insists.

She can only stare at him for a moment, spluttering, too angry to get out a word. If she says anything, she'll probably just scream. Wordlessly. At the top of her lungs. "So, let me get this straight," Ahsoka manages finally, an identical imitation of the tone Obi-Wan always pulls on her and Anakin when he thinks they're being stupid. "The Jedi Council decided to send their least subtle members on an undercover mission and had his padawan watch him die – under the hopes that a Sith with no emotional involvement might believe it. And... pass the padawan off to someone else to sell the story. Were you trying to get rid of Anakin? You could have just requested a transfer."

She pauses to take a deep breath before continuing in the same tone. "Who were you trying to fool, anyway? How could Komari believe that the first Jedi to try – oh, and fail, I might add – to kill a Sith in a thousand years would die from a simple sniper shot? Are you kidding me? Is this a joke to you?"

"Or," Ahsoka continues, stalking closer, hands on her hips, "Do you not care about Anakin at all?"

"Ahsoka –"

"No," she snaps, "You don't get to talk here. You're the one who blew the mission, Obi-Wan. If it really was one. You left Anakin and I out, knowing full well we would do anything to end this before it began. What did you expect, us to blindly follow your little game?"

"You were supposed to be staying on Coruscant," he snaps.

"Yeah, and we were supposed to be protecting the Chancellor. That comes before all your rules, orders, whatever you call them." Ahsoka drops her hands, spinning on her heel. "Now get on board before I change my mind and leave you here." On second thought, she wants to, anyway. She'd probably get in trouble with the Council, but she doesn't care. They had no right to hide this from them or hurt Anakin so badly. It was entirely senseless.

Anakin disappears in the direction of their ship, and Ahsoka follows without looking back. (Why does she have the feeling she might do this for this life entirely, someday?) By the time they enter, she can see Anakin shaking slightly – likely from the sheer emotional overload – and she directs him to the co-pilot seat while taking up flying herself.

And she is angry. She will never stop being angry. Some things she can, and will, never forget. She's free now, and she doesn't have to apologize for speaking her mind. No one has a right to demand that of her.

Nor do they have a right to use her, or Anakin for that matter.

Yes, they have a purpose and a duty, but this isn't about that. She can't say what it was for, but she will never be able to forgive the Council. Maybe – maybe she really wasn't being extreme earlier when she told Palpatine that she very much questions the Jedi's involvement in the war. If they're not careful, soon enough they're going to end up destroying everything they're fighting for.

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